Sky Sports is offering more choice than ever before in 2013, another big year of sport

Sky Sports will deliver a big year of sport in 2013 after offering more choice in 2012 than ever before.

Last Updated: 09/01/13 11:50am

Manchester City: claimed their first ever Premier League title in 2011/12 in dramatic fashion

Over the last 12 months we've brought you live coverage of Formula 1 on a new, dedicated channel, a dramatic victory for Europe in the Ryder Cup, Andy Murray winning his first Major at the US Open, Chelsea's Champions League victory, Rory McIlroy winning the US PGA Championship and a record 14 sports in 3D.

Across the six Sky Sports channels and interactive services there were over 49,000 hours of sport available to Sky Sports viewers in 2012 - an increase of more than five per cent on the previous year.

The next 12 months will be even bigger for Sky Sports, featuring:

BRITISH & IRISH LIONS - Exclusive live coverage of the British & Irish Lions Tour from Australia in June

ASHES SERIES - Exclusive live coverage of two back-to-back Ashes series from England this summer and Australia next winter

BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE - More live matches next season than ever before including Super Sunday double headers and Monday Night Football

FORMULA 1 AT MONACO - The only place to watch every practice, qualifying session and race in the 2013 Formula 1 season live. Ten races will be exclusively live, including Monaco.

SOLHEIM CUP - All three days of the Solheim Cup exclusively live as part of year-round coverage of women's sport including the FIAT Netball Super League and ICC Women's World Cup

THE MASTERS - All four days of the Masters plus the annual Par 3 contest as the first of three Majors live on Sky Sports in 2013

Managing Director of Sky Sports, Barney Francis, said: "Sky Sports has never been stronger. We've given our viewers a front row seat for a great year of sport across six channels, at home and on the move, and next year looks even better. We're looking forward to a Lions tour Down Under, Ashes series at home and away, our second season of Formula One, the women's cricket World Cup and the Solheim Cup.

"We'll also show a great range of live football, including Champions League, Football League, Scottish Premier League, La Liga and more live Premier League games than ever."

The most televised sports in 2012, including support programming, 3D and live coverage but excluding simulcasts on SD/HD and interactive programming, were:

FOOTBALL: 7,159 hours

F1 & MOTORSPORT: 4,874 hours

GOLF: 4,713 hours

CRICKET: 3,891 hours

RUGBY UNION: 1,592 hours

TENNIS: 1,340 hours

RUGBY LEAGUE: 1,147 hours

BOXING: 1,016 hours

All this was available live on TV, online, on the move with Sky Go and via the Sky Sports app for iPad.

FOOTBALL

Sky Sports showed football every day of 2012 and the 2013-14 season looks to be even bigger with more live top flight domestic football than ever before. Alongside a record 116 Premier League matches, Sky Sports also has other domestic, European, and international football including the 10th UEFA Champions League season to be shown on Sky Sports. New on-screen innovations and iPad app developments before the end of this season will give users an even richer experience of Premier League football, reinforcing Sky Sports as the home of football. Memorable moments of 2012 on Sky Sports included Chelsea winning the UEFA Champions League in 3D, a dramatic finish to the Barclays Premier League as Manchester City claimed their first ever title with a late winner, the FA Women's Cup Final and the 1,500th Premier League match on Sky Sports.

FORMULA 1 & MOTORSPORT

Award-winning channel Sky Sports F1 HD offers practice, qualifying and the race from every Grand Prix live. In 2013, ten Grands Prix will be exclusively live, including three of the first four, plus Monaco, Abu Dhabi, Singapore and USA. The weekly F1 Show returns on 15 February 2013 along with coverage of pre-season testing and preview features. Last year as well as all 20 races live with seven different winners from the first seven Grands Prix, viewers enjoyed a glimpse into the future of F1 with live qualifying and racing from F1 feeder series GP2 and GP3, a look at the past with Steve Rider's Legends series and live coverage of the Goodwood Festival of Speed. Alongside daily F1, Sky Sports also showed over 1,600 hours of motorsport: Speedway and Motocross on two wheels, and on four wheels Nascar, F3 Euro Series, Rally and 13 Indy Car races including the Indy 500 and the Firestone 550k.

GOLF

In 2013, Sky Sports will cover live golf every month of the year including all three days of the Solheim Cup exclusively live as Europe aim for their first ever win on US soil. Also coming up in 2013 are three Major championships including the Masters from Augusta National live and in 3D, plus the European and PGA tours. Last year, Sky Sports showed golf programming every week of the year with coverage of more than 200 tournaments from five continents; from the Disabled British Open to the U.S. Champions Tour. Sky Sports viewers enjoyed coverage of every European and PGA Tour event, live HD and 3D coverage of The Ryder Cup and Europe's eleventh-hour victory plus three Majors including Rory McIlroy's US PGA win at Kiawah Island by a record number of strokes. Sky Sports also offers unrivalled coverage of the women's game, showing two women's golf Majors in 2012 plus regular ladies PGA and European Tours events.

CRICKET

In January 2013 England women defend the ICC Women's World Cup at the start of a great year of live cricket on Sky Sports which will also see back-to-back Ashes home and away. Last year, Sky Sports viewers enjoyed live cricket 12 months of the year with 32 Tests including 15 featuring England, 52 One Day Internationals, 57 T20 matches with 14 England T20s and seven England Women's T20 matches including the semi-final and final at the ICC Women's World Twenty20. Domestically Sky Sports showed 62 county matches, including the County Championship and the Clydesdale Bank 40, and Hampshire lifted the Friends Life t20 trophy in the 10th season of Twenty20 cricket on Sky Sports. Alastair Cook became England's leading Test centurion of all time live on Sky Sports in a year which also saw captain Cook lead his side to their first victory in India in 27 years and England top the ICC ODI Championship for the first time since 2004.

RUGBY UNION

The highlight of 2013 will be the British & Irish Lions tour of Australia in June which Sky Sports will cover exclusively live. Regular matches throughout the season include Heineken Cup and Amlin Challenge Cup rugby, the RFU Championship and QBE Internationals in November. Other rugby union programming includes Rugby Club and School of Hard Knocks, which will see Will Greenwood and Scott Quinnell mentor troubled youths from Glasgow. All this comes after a great 2012 of live rugby union every week, with over 280 games in total including Heineken Cup and Amlin Cup matches, 27 Aviva Premiership games, 10 RFU Championship matches, 139 southern hemisphere games and matches from all home nation summer tours. Leinster won a record third Heineken Cup in four years in the first all-Irish final, and England's men and women did the double against New Zealand in an unbeaten Autumn International series for the women and a record-breaking margin of victory for the men.

TENNIS

Coming up in 2013, Sky Sports will again cover all nine events from the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Series live. Last year was a great year for British tennis, and Sky Sports viewers enjoyed a courtside view. They witnessed Olympic gold medallist Andy Murray triumph again to win his first Major live at the US Open in September, at the same time becoming the first British man to win a Grand Slam singles title in 76 years. Over 40 per cent of all tennis shown on Sky Sports in 2012 was live, covering 18 events including over 100 hours of live 3D coverage from the French Open. ATP World Tour coverage on Sky Sports was supported by 47 episodes of tennis magazine show ATP Tour Uncovered. The Series came to an exciting climax when world number one Novak Djokovic won his second title in the ATP World Tour Finals at London's O2 Arena after beating six-time champion Roger Federer.

RUGBY LEAGUE

Beginning on February 1, 2013 with Leeds v Hull FC, Sky Sports will broadcast over 70 matches from Super League XVIII live in HD with selected games in 3D as well as Challenge Cup coverage and the World Club Challenge all live. The 2012 Super League XVII season was the first year of a new five-year deal with the RFL. High points included all seven Magic Weekend games live from the Etihad Stadium and September's Grand Final when reigning champions Leeds took a record sixth title. Regular support programming included Boots 'N' All, Super League Supermen (featuring 2012 Man of Steel Sam Tomkins' mini-series Sam's Super Tries), Sunday night wrap-up Super League Full Time and new show Super League Back Chat.

BOXING

Sky Sports showed 28 title fights in 2012 as part of coverage of boxing 51 weeks of the year. Over 70 hours were shown in 3D, including Carl Froch's defeat of Yusaf Mack in November. Live Fight Nights were accompanied by 48 episodes of Ringside, which covers the length and breadth of the sport with all the latest news and top guests including gold medallists Nicola Adams and Anthony Joshua in an Olympic special. Viewers watched live as Carl Froch beat Lucian Bute to become three-time World Super-Middleweight Champion and Amir Khan bounced back from two defeats to resurrect his career with a win against Carlos Molina in December. Emerging talents were unbeaten British boxers Carl Frampton and Kell Brook, who will fight Devon Alexander in 2013 for the IBF Welterweight Title.